Migrating Off Shopify to a Self-Hosted Store

You opened your first Shopify store six months ago, watched the checkout page lock you into a 2 % transaction fee, and finally realized the theme you love cannot be edited without a pricey developer. You want control, lower costs, and a platform that lets you add code whenever you need.

Below we break down the parts of Shopify that keep you paying, show how WooCommerce on TrueCore changes the picture, and walk through the migration steps that matter most.

What Shopify Binds You To

• Transaction fees - Even if you use a third-party payment gateway, Shopify adds 0.5 %-2 % per order unless you are on Shopify Payments. Those fees add up quickly on a $5 000-month store.
• Theme system - Themes are locked in a proprietary format. Customising CSS is possible, but any structural change requires buying a new theme or hiring a developer who knows the Liquid templating language.
• App ecosystem - Core functionality such as advanced shipping rules, email marketing, or subscription billing lives in paid apps. Each app carries its own monthly charge, and you quickly end up with a bundle of recurring costs.
• Data export limits - Shopify lets you export CSVs of orders and customers, but the process is manual and does not include product images or detailed inventory history. Full data dumps are only available on higher-tier plans.

These constraints keep the monthly bill high and make it hard to customise the checkout flow beyond what Shopify permits.

WooCommerce on TrueCore - Where Things Differ

TrueCore hosts WordPress with PHP 8.3 and nginx 1.28 on a container-isolated setup called flame-bubble. WooCommerce needs PHP and a database, so it starts on the Ember plan (£20/mo), which provides PHP-FPM 8.3 and a per-customer PostgreSQL 16 database. Our static-only Flameling plan cannot run WooCommerce or WordPress. The practical differences are clear:

• No transaction surcharge - WooCommerce only passes the fees set by your payment gateway (Stripe, PayPal, etc.). You avoid the extra Shopify markup entirely.
• Full theme control - Themes are plain PHP/HTML/CSS files. You can edit any part of the markup, add custom templates, or switch to a starter theme without additional licences.
• Plugin pricing is transparent - Most WooCommerce extensions are one-time purchases or free. There is no hidden per-order app fee.
• Complete data ownership - All orders, products, and customers live in a database you can export with wp db export or pg_dump. Backups happen automatically on the plan's schedule (12-hourly for Ember, 6-hourly for Blaze, 30-min for Inferno).

The Ember plan (£20 / mo) provides 12-hour backups, 40 GB storage, and PostgreSQL 16 for reliable write concurrency—important for checkout spikes. If you expect higher traffic, the Blaze (£40 / mo) or Inferno (£80 / mo) plans add more PHP workers and tighter backup intervals.

Our recent WooCommerce guide explains the Ember PostgreSQL 16 setup in depth, including how it handles concurrent writes during checkout spikes.

Moving Your Data

The biggest technical hurdle is pulling the product catalog, customer list, and order history out of Shopify and into WooCommerce. Here's a practical path:

1. Export from Shopify - In the admin, go to Products → Export and choose "All products". Do the same for Customers and Orders. You'll receive CSV files.
2. Import to WooCommerce - Use the built-in CSV importer (WooCommerce → Products → Import). Map the columns, run the import, and verify that SKUs, prices, and images appear correctly.
3. Orders - WooCommerce does not have a native order CSV importer, but the free plugin "Order Import Export for WooCommerce" can read Shopify order exports. Install it via the WordPress plugin screen and follow the wizard.
4. Images - Shopify stores images on its CDN. The CSV includes image URLs; the import plugin will fetch and store them locally on your TrueCore node.
5. Test the checkout - Set up a test payment gateway (e.g., Stripe test mode). Run a few dummy orders to confirm that inventory decrements and emails send.

All commands run inside the TrueCore portal's SSH console. For example, to list the WordPress files after import:

cd /var/www/your-site/wp-content/uploads
ls -lh

The migration can be completed in a weekend for a typical boutique store. Larger catalogs (10 000+ SKUs) may need a staged import and a temporary increase in PHP memory (edit wp-config.php to set define('WP_MEMORY_LIMIT', '256M');).

Where the Migration Gets Tricky

• Checkout customisation - Shopify's checkout UI cannot be replicated exactly without custom code. WooCommerce's checkout templates are PHP files; you will need a developer to match any bespoke fields you used in Shopify.
• Subscriptions and recurring billing - If you relied on Shopify's built-in subscription apps, you must replace them with a WooCommerce extension like "WooCommerce Subscriptions". Those plugins add a monthly cost and require configuration of renewal hooks.
• SEO redirects - Shopify URLs often include /products/slug. After migration, WordPress uses /shop/slug or pure /slug. Set up 301 redirects in the Redirection plugin or via nginx rules in the panel to preserve search ranking.

Everything else—static pages, blog posts, and basic product data—moves cleanly with the CSV workflow.

Getting Started on TrueCore

1. Create a new site - In the TrueCore portal, add a site on the Ember plan. The installer provisions WordPress backed by Ember's per-customer PostgreSQL 16 database.
2. Install WooCommerce - From the WordPress admin, navigate to Plugins → Add New, search "WooCommerce", install and activate. The setup wizard runs automatically.
3. Configure DNS - Point your domain's A record to the Ember node's IP, or use our built-in DNS service (flame-dnsd) for instant propagation. Changes appear across the three-node fleet in under five seconds.
4. Set up backups - Enable an on-demand backup before the first live sale. The backup schedule (12-hourly) will keep you covered thereafter.
5. Launch - Once the checkout works and redirects are in place, switch the DNS TTL to 300 seconds for a quick switchover, then monitor the first sales through the portal's activity log.

Migrating off Shopify removes hidden fees, gives you full control of the codebase, and lets you scale on a plan that matches your traffic. The process is straightforward for most small to medium stores, with only a handful of customisation steps required for complex checkout flows. If you're ready to leave the Shopify lock-in behind, TrueCore's Ember plan is the practical starting point.